SAY IT AIN’T SO: Tarantino Talks Retirement

November 29th, 2012 James Shotwell

There are some truths in this life that only hurt when we discuss them. The eventual end of Quentin Tarantino’s career as a filmmaker is one of those truths, and it seems that horrifying reality be closer than fanboys and girls would like to believe.

Taking part in a recent roundtable featuring a plethora of Hollywood’s big name Directors, Tarantino talked about the future of his career bluntly with the line, “I don’t intend to be a director deep into my old age.” Continuing, the Reservoir Dogs mastermind said, “I’ll probably just be a writer, or I’ll just write novels, and I’ll write film literature and film books and subtextual film criticism, things like that…”

Considering we are currently less than a month away from the release of Tarantino’s latest feature, Django Unchained, these plans for the future may come as a shock to some. The cause, however, is something that has been in headlines for months.

When asked about his thoughts on the industry-wide decision to go all-digital, Tarantino said “I hate that stuff,” before adding, “I shoot film. But to me, even digital projection is — it’s over, as far as I’m concerned. It’s over.”

Those hoping to see more of Tarantino’s camera work in the future may still find salvation on the horizon. The filmmaker did express some interest in doing a longer, episodic drama with someone like HBO or Showtime down the line.

Django Unchained opens Christmas Day, and we’ll be lining up with our Christmas socks still on our feet.